Baseband measurements are utilized in a number of applications, including wireless communication systems that use communication formats such as wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) and CDMA2000. Each wireless communication format typically uses specialized codes to provide multiple communication channels in a designated segment of the electromagnetic spectrum. Various types of baseband measurements are performed on these systems to ensure their modulation quality and compatibility.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a baseband measurement system in accordance with the prior art. System 100 includes a host 102 and a Digital Intermediate Frequency (DIF) subsystem 104. An IF analog signal is input into DIF subsystem 104, where an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) 106 converts the IF analog signal into a baseband signal. The baseband signal includes I and Q data, where I and Q are the in-phase and quadrature components, respectively, of an amplitude versus time series for the signal.
System 100 typically transfers the I and Q data from the DIF subsystem 104 to the host 102 for processing. Host 102 performs all of the data computations for the desired measurement algorithms, typically by batch-mode processing. Batch-mode processing captures a block of data and processes the data in software pursuant to a particular baseband measurement algorithm. The capturing and processing steps repeat as long as system 100 is in a continuous measurement mode.
A large block of time is typically required to transfer sizeable amounts of data between DIF subsystem 104 and host 102, which increases the amount of time needed to complete the measurements. Furthermore, baseband measurements can be complicated at times and require an extensive amount of digital signal processing. Performing these measurements in software is also quite time consuming, particularly with batch-mode processing.